Without proper regulation, and often working alone, care workers receive neither the training or support they need. The people who look after our loved ones deserved better

We’ve seen care workers struggling with the recent weather—but that’s just the start of it. Photo: PA

The inclement weather of the last few weeks has proven disastrous for many people. Yet it’s also provided us with a reminder of the inherent good of people. Images of NHS professionals sleeping over in wards and trekking for miles on end to cover shifts provided the perfect example of the natural instinct to come together as a community to help each other out.

It’s quite right that doctors, nurses and occupational therapists—and every other healthcare professional—have been lionised in such a fashion by the media.

But the weather also shone a light on one the plight of one of most neglected of work forces in a similar field: that of the care worker. Tragically, a Scottish care worker was found dead whilst making visits one morning.

There was also many local stories and anecdotal talk of care workers being stranded in cars whilst making hazardous journeys, others walking huge distances, terrified of missing visits.

Care work is an elastic term, which may explain why it’s rarely discussed much. A “care worker” may mean someone who helps the elderly who still live in their own home. A care worker could be supporting people suffering from mental illness as they make a recovery. Care work could entail working in a children’s home. Or it…

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James Oddy

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